Smuggling and religion. Just doesn’t seem like those two words go together, does it? Or at least, in our safe, simple lives in a place where we have the right to determine our own beliefs, we often don’t remember that it hasn’t always been this way. Reading the Bible in our native language is a blessing, and we owe a great deal to those who enabled us to do, because it gives us the freedom to learn and understand on our own, and not merely accept what others say.
A unit study published by Soli Deo Gloria Resources, William Tyndale: God’s Smugger, has two different goals: it’s an introduction to unit studies for those who would like to try a short, contained, unit study where suggestions are detailed for them, and also serves as an introduction and a tribute to the sacrifices and hard work of William Tyndale.
It’s a comprehensive 20-page ebook available for download, and will take about a week to complete, or it can be stretched out over a longer period of time. In black and white, it’s not going to stretch your printing budget to create a hard copy.
Additional items will need to be obtained, and lists of videos, books, and websites are included. The videos and books may take a little bit of time to request from your local library if you don’t intend to purchase them, so you’d want to make sure and plan ahead. Some of the websites listed had moved; we’ve been told that an updated edition with repaired links will be coming soon.
Many unit studies say “adaptable for all ages”, but most of them don’t give concrete suggestions of what to adapt. That’s one thing I appreciate about this one: it does. That helps me to know that the author has actually checked the materials themselves, and determined what grades they are likely to be appropriate for, and I don’t have to randomly guess for myself.
Other supplies needed will be the basics that most homeschool families keep on hand – papers, notebooks, binders, art supplies , whatever your family would typically use to create. Part of the enticement of a unit study is the ability to adapt it to individual preferences. Go with the flow – if your child enjoys creating it, they will be a lot more likely to retain the memory and truly have learned from it.
A veteran unit study family will enjoy this for the topic; while a newbie to unit studies will appreciate the clear, day-by-day directions that tie together the pieces that allow us to visualize a whole picture. If you’ve been afraid to try unit studies because they seem too open-ended, this one would be a good fit for you, too – there are detailed instructions to guide the timid, why myriad options to allow the experienced to expand.
Though it’s an ebook, and therefore reusable, it’s not likely to be a topic to repeat on a yearly basis. Once every few years, perhaps – as the children grow, each will build upon previous experiences and benefit from different levels of materials.
I really appreciate the detailed daily instructions. Though I’m not likely to follow them exactly, it’s reassuring to know that they’re there to fall back on, for times when I’m busier, or tireder, or just not feeling very creative. Unit studies that are merely lists of books, videos, and links can be intimidating on a good day, and dismaying on a bad – they can seem like so much work to implement, or feel too haphazard when we’re needed the security of organization.
We’re still waiting on the videos, so I can’t comment on them specifically, but based on comments online, they seem appropriate. We’ve read a couple of the middle grade novels between us, and they’ve been enjoyable choices. We’re discovering as a family that historical fiction is something we’re “into” at the moment, and so it has been easy to include.
The websites, we had more difficulty with, due to the links being down, and I’d like to see those updated, but we were able to search online for some alternatives that answered questions we had.
The timelines and historical context were quite interesting to delve into, but it was also our biggest distraction. We’re so easily sidetracked, at times, into whatever catches our interest at the moment. (A note: We could REALLY use a recommendation of an easily expandable, cheap, notebooking-style timeline method that plays nicely with everything from short phrase entries to multiple pages so that we could easily add-in whatever we find… suggestions, please let me know.)
The kids were intrigued by the topic. It’s not something we’d normally pick out on our own, but there’s just something about the title and presentation that really helped draw them in. Perhaps the connection to pirates?
I intend to check out more items from Soli Deo Gloria in the future. This unit study has made me curious about what else they have available, and I look forward to seeing how we can incorporate some of their materials into our homeschool.
William Tyndale: God’s Smuggler Unit Study may be purchased from Soli Deo Gloria Resources for $8.00. Many other products are available that cover a wide range of subjects, including Bible, Geography, History, and Science. They also offer a page of freebies and homeschool tips.
To see what other crew members had to say about this product and others by the same company, check out the TOS Homeschool Crew blog post, Soli Deo Gloria Resources.
**I received this product for free as a member of the 2010-11 The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew so that I could provide you with an honest review of it by our family.**
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